Wednesday, August 6, 2008

As I look forward to heading back to college and starting another baseball season, I wonder where college baseball is heading as a sport. Baseball is the step-sister of collegiate sports to the obvious basketball and football.

It's a tough battle for baseball to market itself at the college level because it lacks the superstar appeal of the other sports. The most players you watch at Omaha rarely make it the pros and even if they do, chances are you've forgotten them because it has been atleast 2, 3, maybe 4 years since. Conversly, in basketball and football the stars just right into starting spots at a pro team near you.

However, I like where the sport is headed as a whole. This year's coverage seemed to be much broader and I think it got a lot of publicity that it usually doesn't see.

I may be biased (okay, I am definitely biased), but I think this a sport that can sell. And for the same reasons that many people lean towards college sports in general. The college players work hard, hustle every time and play for the love of the game. The emotion is raw. The tears are genuine. It's all about the team and winning, every day, every game.

As MLB salaries sky rocket and players continue to jump teams, money flying everywhere, especially out of the fans' pockets who can barely afford to go see their teams, the fans may look towards the developing game that's only growing. A resurgence of the college baseball video game series would help and TV coverage is only expanding.

If you don't watch college baseball, give it a shot. If you can ignore the PING!, then it really becomes a great game to watch.